AS swansongs go, it’s not a bad one – a symphony packed with emotion (Tchaikovsky said he ‘wept a great deal’ composing it in his head) and with a brace of instantly-recognisable melodies.

The man himself keeled over 10 days after conducting the premiere of his Sixth Symphony in 1893.

Vasily Petrenko on the other hand looked in robust health with his new term haircut and formal tails as he led the RLPO through a pacy, passionate telling of the Pathetique in his first appearance at the Phil this year.

It was high drama stuff – explosive acceleration in the first movement, the crispest of crisp allegro molto vivace march in the middle, and rambunctious conducting (it was exhausting just to watch) through an elegiac finale.

But there was also a finely-drawn juxtaposition between the symphony’s dramatic fireworks and the lovely and famous ‘consoling’ theme of the opening adagio – following some fine work by the strings and Alan Pendlebury on bassoon, and the soothing, silky lyricism of the second movement’s equally recognisable lop-sided waltz.

A new year return too for British violinist Jack Liebeck who last played with the RLPO back in 2010, and here went head-to-head with Sibelius’ technically formidable violin concerto.

Liebeck plays an 18th century Guadagnini with a lustrous tone, his impassioned rendering of the concerto’s opening movement here made more intense by his taut stance, knees slightly bent as if squeezing each note up his body, down his fingers and out of his violin.

He generated great sweep and swell and showcased super-swift fingerwork.

If the central adagio didn’t excite quite as much, it did layer on the emotion, especially through the orchestral accompaniment – with Petrenko leaning around the soloist to demand, with pointed index finger and that satanic glare he can emit, increasing depth from his strings.

The final movement is the most tricksy, but Liebeck negotiated the staccato double-stops and whip-quick runs and octaves with almost nonchalant ease.